In past years, that intersection in El Paso and Las Cruces has been sparse.

But that is about the change.

The three major BMX parks - an acronym for bicycle motocross, a form of cycling on specially designed bicycles that race on dirt tracks that include banks, hills and jumps - have formed the Rio Grande Shootout.

"The concept has been done by other tracks in the past," said Jessica O'Leary, operations director of the Transmountain Optimist Desert Downs BMX track in Northeast El Paso. "They do it when they have tracks close by like we do so that they work together to come together as a BMX community."

The Rio Grande Shootout began in May at Desert Downs. On June 22, the riders will race at Wild Chile BMX in Las Cruces and a July date to be determined at Sun City BMX in West El Paso.

"We named it Rio Grande Shootout to represent the area, not the individual tracks," O'Leary said. "To support the point series, each track agreed it would close down that one weekend and have that one race at that one track to push riders to go to that specific track and make it as big a deal as possible."

Close to 60 riders - from 4 years old to adults - took part in the first race at Desert Downs.

"It's pretty fun being out here," said 9-year-old Chandler Elza. "I like to race against people who are better than me; that way I can get better for nationals."

Chandler, who races out of Wild Chile BMX, has been to about 30 national races.

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Last year, he represented Team USA at the UCI BMX World Championships in England.

"He hasn't been to too many this year, but he is probably in the top 30," said Aaron Elza, Chandler's father. "He typically is in the top 15 in his age group."

Chandler rides in the 9-year-old expert division.

"He was in T-ball when he was almost 6 and the BMX facility was right next to the field," Elza said. "The whole time he was out there, he would just stare at the track. I told him after T-ball we would go check it out to see if he wanted to do it. He went out and fell in love with it right away."

His 6-year-old sister, Breiona, is ranked in the top 3 nationally.

"Breiona is a very girly, girly-princess type but because she goes to nationals with us all the time, she finally started riding," Elza said. "She started riding local races last year. She went to Grands last Thanksgiving and ended up with a top 10 national plate. That helped her confidence; her self-esteem is through the roof. It just drives her."

BMX racers compete on a serpentine dirt track against up to eight racers on the track at a time on bikes with 18- to 24-inch wheels (the norm being the 20-inch wheel).

From start to finish, a race takes just 35 to 45 seconds of all-out effort that's a combination of strength, agility and skill.

BMX - racing and freestyle - became a medal sport at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Louie Villanueva, whose sons Louie and Steven compete in many motocross events around the country, raced at Desert Downs when he was 7 years old.

"Once the boys turned 4 years old, I put them on a bike and they just kept on going," he said. "They each ride in two classes. Steven races 11 expert and 11 cruiser, and Louie races 13 expert and 13 cruiser."

Villanueva, who is now 41, helps maintain the track at Sun City BMX, 650 Wallenberg on the West Side.

"The jumps are bigger and the turns are wider now," he said. "This is a breakout year. If you go to California, there's going to be 100 riders who go to every track every week. We don't have those numbers here. When each track races once a week, you might only get six or seven motos (groups who race) at a track. When every track shuts down one Saturday a month, then you get 16 motos with 100 riders."

Max Bower is the track director of Wild Chile BMX in Las Cruces, a park that has been open for close to 30 years.

"We average a little more than 100 members," he said. "It seems to have grown over the past couple of years since it became an Olympic sport. It's one of the fastest-growing youth sports."

Bower's 8-year-old son, Jack, is the reason he is out there.

"Like everybody else he did T-ball, soccer and other sports," he said. "He did OK in them but he really didn't get into it. Once he tried BMX, he was hooked."

"It's all about families," he said. "You have mom and dad out here watching their kids. It's all up to the kid; if the kid wants to be good, they have to want to do it. They have to go to practice; if they don't practice, they don't race. You win or you lose; it's that easy."

O'Leary, the operations director at Desert Downs, said she hopes the Rio Grande Shootout motivates riders from El Paso and Las Cruces to give the tracks a try.

"A lot of riders only like to race one track," she said. "But why not go 30 minutes to another track? That way we share the wealth and are able to support each other. Why not experience another track at least once a month and increase rider morale?"

She said riders are excited about the second race in the series in Las Cruces.

"A lot of people really didn't know what to expect from the first one," she said. "They didn't know how much fun we had until after it was over, so a lot of the riders didn't get the chance to try our track. Now there's a big buzz about the series. I'm glad we were able to get it started."

Victor R. Martinez may be reached at vmartinez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6128.

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